AEDs are well-known and widely used today to aid in both defibrillation and CPR. AEDs were developed decades ago to provide emergency therapy options during rescue situations for patients under cardiac arrest conditions. AEDs have become prevalent in public locales such as offices, shopping centers, stadiums, and other areas of high pedestrian traffic. AEDs empower citizens to provide medical help during cardiac emergencies in public places where such help was previously unavailable in the crucial early stages of a cardiac event.
Recent clinical guidelines emphasize the importance of good quality cardio-pulmonary resuscitation to maintain circulation in unconscious patients and to improve the odds of survival with an electrical shock. Because most cardiac arrests happen outside hospitals and in public places, devices like AEDs, which can assist CPR-trained members of the general public to perform better compressions, are of immense value to the community. Presently, some AEDs provide interfaces to sensors measuring the depth of compressions, rates of compressions, and effectiveness of compressions, including but not limited to piezoelectric sensors, pressure sensors, accelerometers, force sensors, and the like. However, in many devices, these measurements are not particularly useful as the measurements do not prove to provide effective instructions to the rescuer.
Therefore, improved methods and apparatus for rapidly assessing whether CPR is being effectively administered and quickly delivering appropriate corrective prompts to a rescuer are desired.